ROM Hack Translation patches as game updates?

[Myria]

Is it possible to make .cia's that act as game updates for an existing game, and use that technique to make translation patches for games? I mean for use on hacked firmwares, of course.

I'm a skilled reverse engineer, so figuring out how a game works and how to change the text isn't the problem; it's how to install it.

By releasing as a .cia, I wouldn't have to distribute the whole game.

 

[SciresM]

Is it possible to make .cia's that act as game updates for an existing game, and use that technique to make translation patches for games? I mean for use on hacked firmwares, of course.

I'm a skilled reverse engineer, so figuring out how a game works and how to change the text isn't the problem; it's how to install it.

By releasing as a .cia, I wouldn't have to distribute the whole game.

It's possible, yes, but if you're trying to do so for a game that doesn't already have updates released you'll need to manually edit the ARM assembly in code.bin to make it load certain files from the patch's romfs instead of the base ROM's.

(and if you're editing one for a game that DOES have updates, you'll need to edit where files are loaded in the patch's code.bin, too, it's just much easier because you won't have to write custom file-loading code, only change some strings.)

 

[Myria]

It's possible, yes, but if you're trying to do so for a game that doesn't already have updates released you'll need to manually edit the ARM assembly in code.bin to make it load certain files from the patch's romfs instead of the base ROM's.

(and if you're editing one for a game that DOES have updates, you'll need to edit where files are loaded in the patch's code.bin, too, it's just much easier because you won't have to write custom file-loading code, only change some strings.)

What changes would I need to make? I don't know anything about the official SDK, so that is kind of beyond me. I know ARM assembly language, and have patched other 3DS games before (A Link Between Worlds particularly).